


The Olive Test

by AccioInvisibilityCloak



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: Ben's POV, Drabble, F/M, im sorry this is so short and not much happens, missing moment fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-25
Updated: 2014-08-25
Packaged: 2018-02-14 14:45:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2195763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AccioInvisibilityCloak/pseuds/AccioInvisibilityCloak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That time when Ben decides to test whether Beatrice watches his videos or not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Olive Test

Ben has resigned himself to a fate of never being able to pay attention in Physics again.

It’s absolutely impossible. All he can think about in this class is Beatrice, who has changed tack completely and gone back to ignoring him after the other day’s veritable staring contest between them. What is her deal, anyway? If Pedro and the others are right, then Bea certainly has an odd way of showing her affection for him. After all the weirdness that day in class and then at the lockers, he’s honestly beginning to doubt what he overheard. What if Beatrice and the guys are in league on this, playing some kind of trick on him? Maybe she’s waiting for him to ask about it so she can laugh in his face at the very idea that she could muster any feeling for him outside of mere tolerance?

Or maybe, he wonders for the millionth time, Beatrice is acting weird because she somehow knows he likes her back? Ben knows he hasn’t told anyone but his camera, and he’s pretty sure Beatrice doesn’t watch his vlogs. She hated the first one, after all (Ben still thinks it was quite witty and insightful, thank you very much Miss Expert Video Blogger Know It All.) Even so, anything is possible. She could have started watching them again at any time and he would have no way to tell. He has to know for sure.

So that afternoon, Ben is the first one out the door as soon as the bell rings in his last class, hoping to beat Beatrice to the lockers.

When he gets there, she’s standing a little ways down the hall at Pedro’s locker, talking and laughing with him about something. Ben forces himself not to stare. Instead, he opens his own locker and starts packing up for the day. Maybe this was a stupid idea. What was he even going to say to her? “Oh, hi there Beatrice, watch any of my vlogs lately?” _Stupid, stupid, stupid_. Maybe he can get out of here before she even notices him. That’s the way she would prefer it, he thinks dejectedly.

He’s torn out of his sad speculations by a voice. “Move over, dickface. You aren’t the only one with a locker in this hallway, you know.” Beatrice is flippant and rude as usual, but she doesn’t sound so cold and cutting this time. That’s something, right?

“Oh, uh, my apologies, fair Beatrice. How are you this afternoon?” He wants to smack himself in the face as soon as he says it, but settles for hiding behind his locker door so she won’t notice him blushing. All she does in response to his inane comment is roll her eyes.

It’s astounding the way Bea can remove all his pride and confidence with one sharp glare or sarcastic remark these days. It’s like their whole dynamic has suddenly and irrevocably shifted, and not for the first time he wishes he could unhear the alleged truth about her feelings for him.

And now she’s walking away. Shit.

“Beatrice, wait!” He calls after her. She turns, confused.

“Oh, uh…that is… I just… I wanted to…” he stammers, and she’s just staring at him, a hand on her hip, waiting.

“What is it, Benedick? I really have to go-”

“Nothing! Uh… You know what I have a taste for? Olives! Yeah, olives. I used to hate olives, you know, but then Pedro dared me to eat a whole jar and now I think they’re great! But, um, how do you feel about, uh, about olives, Beatrice? Any… any thoughts?” he blurts out, talking so fast it’s a wonder she understands him at all. She’s looking at him like he’s suddenly taken leave of his senses, and he has to consider that maybe he actually has done.

Beatrice is laughing at him when she answers, “You are so weird, you know that? And olives are disgusting, and they don’t exactly make for scintillating conversation, either. I’ll see you tomorrow, Ben.”

And she turns on her heel and walks away.

Ben stares after her until she’s swallowed by the crowd. Then he bangs his head up against his locker, and leans there, a bump probably starting on his forehead, face bright red with embarrassment. He’s never felt like such a complete and utter prat in his life, and all he’s learned by making a fool out of himself in front of Beatrice is that she definitely, one hundred percent does not watch his videos. She doesn’t care about his videos, and why should she?

Ben decides then and there that he’s going to forget about this whole crush thing, act like it never happened, hope it just goes away, because he was right all along. Love sucks.

When he gets home that day, he checks his YouTube subscriptions, hoping for something to take his mind off things. The first thing in his sub box is Beatrice. Nothing Much to Do. He never did unsubscribe, he realizes, trying to push away this odd pinching, aching feeling in his heart.

He comes so close to clicking on her beautiful face smiling out at him from the thumbnail photo, just to see what she’s doing and to hear her voice. At the last minute, his cursor changes direction, and, stubborn as ever, he closes the page instead. 

**Author's Note:**

> I have this headcanon that Ben is still subscribed to Bea and Hero’s channel even though he doesn’t watch it anymore, and keeps forgetting to unsubscribe. I also have a headcanon that once he realizes he likes Beatrice he might maybe sometimes gloomily rewatch some of her old videos from before he pledged not to watch her channel anymore, because those don’t count, right? I had to use one of these in a fic sometime, so there you go! :) This drabble was inspired by a comment Ben left on one of his recent videos, I can't remember which. This fic also functions as a kind of companion to “In Which Chemistry Interrupts Physics, and History is, Well, History”. Thanks for reading!  
> Also readable here: http://accioinvisibilitycloak.tumblr.com/post/95347711187/the-olive-test
> 
> Please do not copy/duplicate this work.


End file.
